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Why you shouldn’t trust snowboard reviews

It is a pretty hard decision to pull the trigger and buy a new snowboard, even if you have done your research.

The manufacturers descriptions are vague, and full of overly technical names for features on a snowboard that you don’t even know if you need.

It would be an almost impossible job to actually test every snowboard in all the different weather/snow conditions that it might get used in.

What you can learn from this site

There are two types of write ups on this site. Detailed reviews on boards/boots/bindings/outerwear that I have ridden and used, and write ups on products that I haven’t used, but have tried to describe the manufacturers information in an easier to understand way.

Before you trust anything that is written (on my site or anyone else’s) it is important to understand what type or rider is giving you these recommendations.

About me

I get to ride at least 100 days a year, split into a northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere seasons. I think I am a fairly advanced rider, I like riding everywhere and can comfortably handle most terrain switch.

I ride a lot of park, so I have much more park and freestyle board reviews than any other type. That being said, I’m not doing doubles off XL jumps or 270’s on to big kinked rails.

When I am writing about a board that I have ridden for a while, in a bunch of varied conditions, I’ll try to get across the feeling that it has – edge hold, pop, stability and whether or not I had fun on it.

I’ll list as many details as I can about the snow conditions, the boots, bindings, my weight, stance angles and width.

There are lots of boards that I have ridden for a couple of runs, but haven’t written a review on because that just isn’t enough time to get used to a board and find out what it is really like. The difference in what I think from the 3rd run to the 20th is often big, so I want to make sure I know for sure how it rides before I give you my opinion.

The most reviews I have are from gear I own, with some having more than 100 days of use on it. It is only me reviewing gear, so hopefully there is more consistency between the reviews to help you make a judgement.

On top of that, it is only my opinion.

One thing that I don’t do – as it is pointless, is give something a star rating or a rating out of 5 or 10. How can I rate a soft rocker snowboards edge hold out of 10? Am I comparing it to a rocker board that has good edge hold, or a stiff camber all mountain board?

I’ll try to give you an idea of how I think a snowboards feature does considering what it is designed for – what I expect a small jib board to ride like is very different from a stiff all mountain board.

Another thing that I will try to add to each product is a little description of where are certain model sits in that brands range – so you can compare whether it is worth it to spend a little more to get the next model up, or to save a little and get the model below.

Just try and take my opinion and see if it matches up with what you think, and what you want to get from your gear.